


come back to what you need

by ohjustpeachy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Breaking Up & Making Up, Fluff, M/M, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22504165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohjustpeachy/pseuds/ohjustpeachy
Summary: The first time Tony sees Steve after their breakup, it's on the subway, with someone else. Could he really have moved on so quickly?
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 16
Kudos: 227
Collections: POTS (18+) Stony Stocking 2019





	come back to what you need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FestiveFerret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [FestiveFerret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/pseuds/FestiveFerret) in the [stony_stocking_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stony_stocking_2019) collection. 



> For Ferret, who shares my love of breaking up/making up! I hope you enjoy this fic inspired by your prompt: Steve and Tony broke up a few months ago, but when Tony sees Steve dating someone new, he realizes he never got over him. He tries to win Steve back, only to find out that Steve was never dating that person, and he wants to get back together too.

New York is a big city by all standards, but as Tony stands on the crowded A Train, trying his best not to collapse into the wholly oblivious woman whose bag is banging repeatedly against his kneecap, it feels very small. Tiny. Miniscule, even. Tony could borrow a page from the thesaurus to describe how microscopic the city of New York feels with Steve Rogers suddenly mere feet from him, but only _centimeters_ away from a woman Tony recognizes vaguely from one of his art seminars. 

It was the first time he’d seen him in four months, and Tony is… well, overwhelmed is putting it mildly. 

They ate lunch together, Steve and this woman, whose name, Tony now recalls is Nicole. Tony had even met her a few times. Maybe Steve had confided in her about their breakup, and then one thing led to another and now here they are, clutching onto each other in a crowded train, the way he and Tony used to do. He can almost feel it, his hand on Steve’s chest or his arms, whatever he could grab, delighting in the flush Steve would get as Tony’s hands _accidentally_ slipped lower or pulled him tighter. His heart sinks like a lead balloon, the overstuffed purse hits him again, and Tony feels suddenly sure he’s going to die, right here on this train, his breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps until it simply stopped. 

Just then, the doors open and bag lady departs, shooting Tony a dirty look as she shoves past him, and then a voice is saying, “Tony?”

It’s so bright, so _warm,_ Tony could cry, but he won’t because it’s _Steve,_ and breaking up had been Tony’s idea in the first place. If Steve can handle this, Tony can, too.

“Steve,” he says. “Hey.” 

“Hey! How are you? You remember Nicole?” 

Tony tries not to wince as he nods. “Of course. Good to see you, Nicole. You keeping this one out of trouble?” 

God, why had he said that? He sounds like someone’s father. Shit. 

Nicole just laughs though, friendly as ever, and rolls her eyes playfully. “Oh, yeah, he’s a wild one.” 

Steve laughs, but he's still holding Tony’s gaze. “You were always getting us in trouble,” he says almost fondly. “Remember that time I locked myself out, and you thought it would be a good idea to throw rocks at Bucky’s window and yell lines of Shakespeare up at him until he let us in?”

Tony laughs. He’d almost forgotten about that. “Our phones were with your keys, and to be fair, I didn’t _mean_ to break the window. I don’t think he’ll ever let us live that one down.” The _us_ slips out, despite the fact that they weren’t actually an _us_ anymore, but Steve takes it in stride.

“He _still_ brings that up,” Steve confirms with a laugh. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony huffs, pretending to be annoyed. “You were always the adult.” It’s only half true, though. Steve was the more sensible of the two of them, but he’d still always been up for a night out, or to follow along with one of Tony’s insane plans. 

They balanced each other out perfectly. 

Steve is still looking at him when the train screeches to a stop again. “This is me,” he says, as if Tony doesn’t remember, as if they hadn’t nearly missed this very stop countless times, too wrapped up in each other to know which way was up, let alone which stop they were at. “It was great to see you, Tony,” Steve says honestly. “We should do it again.” 

“What, the whole Strangers on a Train thing?” Tony deadpans. 

“You know what I mean,” Steve says with a small smile that makes Tony’s stomach flip in a way that’s _completely_ unfair. How did Steve seem so entirely _fine_ when Tony still felt like a collection of broken pieces? How had he moved on so quickly? Tony didn’t want Steve pining after him _forever_ , but longer than four months surely isn’t too much to ask. He's selfish and he knows it, but Tony wanted Steve to miss him, just a little. Just until Tony was okay again. Or, well. _More_ okay at least. He has a feeling he’d be missing Steve for quite a while. 

“Yeah, I know what you mean," Tony agrees. "We should. You have my number.” 

He says it before he can chicken out. Steve always was the bigger person, wanting to be _friends_ and _stay in touch_ , where Tony figured himself much too cowardly for that. A clean break was easier. Safer.

Steve nods, and Tony watches them go, waving at Nicole as they head into the crush of people, sure he won’t hear from Steve again. Pleasantries exchanges with ex-boyfriends on trains mean nothing. It’s like when you see an old friend in the grocery store and promise to grab coffee and catch up one day soon. It makes both of you feel like you’re being a Good Friend without requiring any actual follow through. Until the next time you bump into them, rinse and repeat. 

Except that almost as soon as the doors slide shut, Tony's phone lights up in his hand, and there’s Steve’s face, the number and photo Tony of course hasn’t been able to delete. 

_Is tonight too soon to see you again? You can say no, of course, but it would be great to catch up :-)_

The smiley face. Steve rarely, if ever, used emojis. He texted like someone much older than his twenty-seven years, using traditional smilies _with noses_. Seriously, who added _noses_?

Tony knows he should wait awhile to respond, but his fingers seem to take on a life of their own, tapping out, _Tonight’s perfect. Billymark’s?_ only seconds after Steve's text arrives. 

He tries to ignore the way his heart thrills at Steve’s immediate response. 

_Perfect. 8? See you soon!_

*

Eight o’clock hits before Tony can make himself relax, and before he knows it, he’s sitting far too close to Steve at the bar, a beer in his hand, and a million questions on his lips. He wants to know how Steve is, what he’s been up to, but more than anything, he wants to know…

“So, how’s your girlfriend?” Tony hears himself say the words aloud, horrified that he wasn’t able to stop them, yet delighted that Steve looks perplexed by the question. 

“Girlfriend? _Nicole?_ That’s… No. Tony. You didn’t really think I was dating someone already? I couldn’t…” Steve trails off, like he’s admitting to something shameful. “It’s always been you for me, Tony. It’ll be awhile before I see anyone else that way. Nicole’s been great, through it all, but we’re just friends.” He smiles sadly, and Tony tries to ignore the way his chest soars at the words.

“Thank god,” he blurts. “Sorry. I know it’s my fault we’re even _in_ this situation, but I was an idiot, thinking we were too young to be so serious and running away. I really miss you. I mean, I knew I did, but then I saw you with Nicole and it was like… I felt like I was _under_ the train rather than on it.” It's too honest, probably, but something about seeing Steve again on a crowded train, in a city as big as this one made Tony feel like they were inevitable, like all of this was good to be true. Like _fate,_ if Tony believed in that kind of thing. So he had to get it out, get it off his chest no matter the consequences, because at the end of day, the things you needed, the things you _loved_ most had a way of coming back to you.

And that, for Tony, is Steve.

He watches Steve’s face shift from confused to relieved and back again as he tries to find something to say. Then, finally, Steve’s hand moves a fraction closer to Tony's, and he says, quietly, “You’re not at idiot, Tony.”

“I am. A certified genius, sure, but I’m definitely a few crayons short of a box, when it comes to you.”

Steve laughs, then lets his hand close the distance between them, until it’s resting just on top of Tony's, nearly dwarfing it beneath the warmth of his palm. 

“I miss you, too,” Steve says. “Maybe we can work on it. See each other again… see where it goes?” He asks so quietly, like he’s afraid of what the answer might be, even now, and Tony has to talk himself out of hurtling himself into Steve’s lap, right there at the bar.

“That would be good,” he says instead. “That would be really good.”

Steve squeezes his hand, and Tony can’t help but notice that his smile goes all the way to his eyes this time.

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from the song "this love" by taylor swift!


End file.
